The Bus
The Bus *'Model Type': 1970s Ward International R-183 *'Manufacturer': Ward International Trucks, Inc. *'Owner': The Frizzles & The Blossoms "The Bus" (a.k.a. The Magic School Bus, "Bus" by Dora Blossom, Alicia Blossom, Valerie Frizzle and Fiona Frizzle, "Bussa" by Bonnie & Clyde, and "Bussy" by William) is the common name of the titular anthropomorphic school bus that Ms. Frizzle's class and Liz ride on and goes on field trips and is the main character in the series. It is most often piloted by Ms. Frizzle, her sister Ms. Frizzle or Liz, but occasionally, one of the kids will take the wheel (like Ralphie in "Kicks Up a Storm", "Going Batty" and "Gets Lost in Space", Wanda in "Gets Lost in Space", Carlos in "Gets Ready, Set, Dough", and Tim and Phoebe in "Taking Flight") or it will take on a shape (such as an animal) that allows it to "drive" itself. It is magic, as said in the name of the series, and in the theme song. With is magic powers, it can transform into many various things, like a space shuttle, submarine, pirate ship, even animals. Kind of like Rocket in Little Einsteins. In fact, The Magic school bus and Rocket share some traits along with Umicar for Team Umizoomi All have been seen tiny All are male vehicles All are unable to talk with words Two of them use sounds to communicate All of them were from kid shows All of them transform into vehicles Two of them slept in one of their episodes Technical Details Basis The Magic School Bus is somewhat based on a 1970s Ward International bus with fender skirts on the rear wheels, the front windshield being 2 different windows, and a grille spine down the center of the grille. Livery In the original series, The Magic School Bus was painted fully Walkerville yellow. In ''The Magic School Bus Rides Again, ''it is painted in the common North American School Bus yellow with black stripes. Internal mechanics It isn't really clear how The Magic School Bus works, but there are some hints in the TV series. We can see the how the fuel gets to the engine in "Revving Up". First of all, its magic seems to flow from several unusually named devices, like the Shrinker Scope or the Mesmerglober. The Shrinker Scope serves mostly as an easy way to shrink and resize the bus at the will of Ms. Frizzle. It seems to have at least two varieties of the Shrinkerscope, namely, the main one (as an internal part) and the PortaShrinker. At least the latter can't work when damp or wet, and if someone attempts to activate it in such conditions, the Dew Dinger sounds. The Mesmerglober, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with changing the shape of The Magic School Bus. It changes it into whatever the class needs, be it a bus-marine, a spaceship, or a bus-igator. In the episode Making Magic, it pretty much reveals where the Bus's magic comes from: a Magic Battery (Mag-Batt for short) and it runs on solar power with actual energy from the center in the sun, as well as true courage and perseverance as revealed by Fiona Frizzle herself. Trivia *The bus was able to float around in lava. This may lead to the fact that the bus may be physically indestructable. *The Magic School Bus seems to have a deep caring for the students in Ms. Frizzle's class. This is displayed in Gets Ants in Its Pants when it is pouring with rain and it graciously offers Keesha the chance to get dry by getting in. She declines, arguing she "deserves" to get wet and the viewer can see The Magic School Bus pity her as she sits on a soaked log. * The Magic School Bus appears to be sentient, mainly due to having eyes and a mouth. This is further shown in Taking Flight when it gets angry at Liz for constantly making it crash when Tim and Phoebe were trying to save the rest of the class, in the opening when it looked a bit scared upon seeing an octopus in the neighborhood, and in Gets Lost in Space when it felt exhausted upon Janet overloading it with "proof" she went to all the planets of the Solar System. It is shown The Magic School Bus is incapable of talking, but it is capable of panting and coughing and the famous honking is used for talking as revealed in Rides Again. It's also unknown what gender The Magic School Bus is. * While the Bus has no gender, some of its transformations include a female hen (in Cracks a Yolk) and a female salmon. * The Magic School Bus has few modifications throughout the series, which include: ** Original Series: *** It had fender skirts covering its rear wheels. ** Rides Again: *** Its fender skirts are removed from the rear wheels, thus revealing its rear wheels. *** Back Antennae and roof hatch are added. *** On the back, it has two doors instead of one. *** Its bottom lip is a darker shade of silver than its top lip. *** Its headlight eyes turn light aqua. *** It now has one extra window on its sides. Images of Bus Transformations Animals Bus-Bat.jpg|Bat File:Magic Snail Bus.jpg|Snail File:Frog Bus.jpg|Frog File:Magic Hen Bus.jpg|Hen File:LadyBus.jpg|Ladybug File:Bear bus.jpg|Bear File:Bus-GilaMonster.jpg|Gila Monster File:Bus-Turtle.jpg|Tortoise Bus-Butterfly.jpg|Butterfly Bus-Alligator.jpg|Alligator Duck.jpg|Duck From this.png|Spider Beebus.jpg|Bee imagetht is cool.jpg|Owl Limpet Water trider.jpg|Water Stryder Cool image.jpg|Horned Lizard File:IMG_0538.jpg|Parasaurolophus File:IMG_0539.jpg|Triceratops File:IMG_0463.jpg|Coelophysis File:IMG_0464.jpg|Stegosaurus File:IMG_0466.jpg|Pteranodon File:IMG_1109.jpg|Bird File:IMG_1110.jpg|Snake File:IMG_1111.jpg|Rainforest Frog File:IMG_0467.jpg|Bottlenose Dolphin File:IMG_0468.jpg|Killer Whale File:IMG_0469.jpg|Panda Bear File:IMG_0471.jpg|Cheetah File:IMG_0472.jpg|Toucan File:IMG_0473.jpg|Lizard File:IMG_0474.jpg|Swamp Frog File:IMG_0481.jpg|Monarch Butterfly File:IMG_0483.jpg|Jungle Spider File:IMG_0484.jpg|Dragonfly File:IMG_0485.jpg|Yellow Ladybug File:The_Magic_School_Bus_Shark_Bus.jpg|Shark File:IMG_0506.jpg|Manta Ray File:IMG_0511.jpg|Lion Fish Modes of Transportation File:Desert terrain jeep.jpg|Desert Jeep File:Open air speaker Bus.jpg|Open-top Vehicle File:IMG_0486.jpg|Intestine Submarine File:Magic School Bus - Space Shuttle.jpg|Space Shuttle File:Magic Space Bus Out of This World.jpg|Starship File:IMG_0487.jpg|Intergalactic Starship File:IMG_0488.jpg|Spaceship File:IMG_0489.jpg|Planet File:Magic_Space_Bus_Out_of_This_World_-_comet.jpg|Comet File:Magic_Space_Bus_Out_of_This_World_-_asteroid.jpg|Asteroid File:Magic_Space_Bus_Out_of_This_World_-_moon.jpg|Moon File:Steam boat bus.jpg|Steamboat File:IMG_0493.jpg|Airship TrainLocomotiveBus.jpg|Locomotive PirateShipBus.jpg|Pirate Ship RaceCarBus.jpg|Race Car HelicopterBus.jpg|Helicopter File:IMG_0766.jpg|Steam Shovel File:Paddleboat Bus.jpg|Riverboat File:Bus skateboard.jpg|Skateboard File:Blimp bus.jpg|Blimp Bus-Submarine.jpg|Submarine File:The_Magic_School_Bus_Pontoon_Submarine_Bus.jpg|Pontoon Submarine File:IMG_0490.jpg|Submersible File:IMG_0500.jpg|Bathtub Submarine File:IMG_0492.jpg|Body Sub Bus-Surfboard.jpg|Surfboard Bus-CafeteriaTrailer.jpg|Cafeteria Trailer Bus-TimeMachine.jpg|Time Machine Bus-BogRaft.jpg|Airboat Bus-Jeep.jpg|Jeep Bus-TowTruck.jpg|Tow Truck No recycling.png|No-recycling Truck Raft.jpg|Raft Bright bus.jpg|Light Bulb File:IMG_0515.jpg|White Light File:IMG_0523.jpg|Colored Light Mallowblaster_Bus.jpg|Mallow Blaster DSC00468.JPG|Hot Rod DSC00543.JPG|Broadcasting Station File:IMG_0475.jpg|Landing Craft File:IMG_0476.jpg|Sound Station File:IMG_0477.jpg|Whale Watching Boat File:IMG_0479.jpg|Volcano Helicopter File:IMG_0480.jpg|Airshow Blimp File:IMG_0547.jpg|Glass Bottom Boat File:IMG_0494.jpg|Inflatable Raft File:IMG_0505.jpg|Spanish Galleon File:IMG_0502.jpg|Undermining Vehicle Airplanes File:Airplane bus - All Dried Up.jpg|Single-engined Biplane(possibly an Antonov An-3) File:Wright Brothers plane bus.jpg|10-winged Plane File:First Airplane Bus.jpg|Wright Flyer III MonoplaneBus.jpg|Spirit of St. Louis File:747 Bus - airplane.jpg|Hughes H-4 Hercules(Spruce Goose) File:IMG_0491.jpg|Wing Flapping Plane File:IMG_0501.jpg|Volcano Airplane File:The_Magic_School_Bus_as_a_Weather_Plane.gif|Weather Plane File:The_Magic_School_Bus_as_a_Propeller_Plane.png|Propeller Plane File:The_Magic_School_Bus_as_a_Passenger_Jet.jpg|Passenger Jet Other File:Whistle_overload_bus.jpg|Whistle File:Battery_bus.jpg|Battery File:Magic_Guitar_Bus.jpg|Guitar File:Magic_Pizza_Bus.jpg|Pizza File:Floppy_Disc_bus.jpg|Floppy Disc File:IMG_0514.jpg|Supposatron Transformations in The Magic School Bus Rides Again File:IMG_0819.jpg|Airplane File:IMG_0837.jpg|Spaceship File:IMG_0821.jpg|Submarine File:IMG_1088.jpg|Spacecraft File:IMG_0822.jpg|Bathyscaphe Trieste File:IMG_0824.jpg|Shrimp File:IMG_0825.jpg|Jellyfish File:IMG_1083.jpg|Blood Cell File:IMG_1084.jpg|Nerve Car File:Train_Bus.jpg|Train File:Stage_Bus.jpg|Show Stage File:IMG_1085.jpg|Building File:IMG_1081.jpg|Tree File:The_Magic_School_Bus_Rides_Again_The_Bus_as_a_Glacier_Climbing_Vehicle.jpg|Glacier Climbing Vehicle File:IMG_0830.jpg|Blimp File:IMG_0831.jpg|Green House File:IMG_1086.jpg|Dandelion Seed File:IMG_0832.jpg|Wagon File:IMG_0834.jpg|Hot Air Balloon File:IMG_0835.jpg|DNA Riding Vehicle File:IMG_0836.jpg|Space Vehicle Category:Characters Category:Vehicles Category:Heroes Category:Main Characters Category:The Magic School Bus Rides Again characters Category:Silent characters Category:Non human characters Category:Non verbal characters